Hi Alex,
Welcome to your personalized Grit Lab Report!
We will go week by week, reviewing everything you have told us through Poll Everywhere.
We hope this will help you reflect on what you have learned and experienced during Grit Lab.
Important note!
Sometimes, you may not have been able to respond to all polls.
If the data for one of the polls is missing, the automatic report will display NA, or ““.
Okay, let’s get started!
The first half of Grit Lab delves deep intp the passion facet of Grit.
We like to call it Choose Easy, because we think gritty people pursue what they enjoy.
Putting it graphically, gritty people tend to pursue the intersection of these four circles.
The first time we met, you told us where you were on the grit rubric.
Regarding passion you picked Stage 2: I have 2 or 3 emerging interests but am unsure how to figure out which one to pursue .
Regarding perseverance you picked .
As you know, grit grows, so don’t worry if you are not yet where you’d like to be in your grit journey.
Hopefully, this class will help you become grittier each day.
In week 2, we looked at your interests.
Interest is an emotion, and it is the opposite of boredom.
Your interests are the activities or subjects that spontaneously grab your attention.
Trying things out and seeing how you feel is the best way to refine your interests.
In week 3, we studied values, your beliefs about what is important.
You said your top three values were hedonism, universalism, and achievement.
You wrote a “This I Believe” essay, and here’s where you located it on Schwartz’s value taxonomy.
When we talked about strengths in week 4, you said your personality strength was openness.
You said your top three talents were social, musical, and verbal.
We then talked about goal hierarchies.
You said you were not sure yet about your top-level goal.
We discussed self-concordance, or how much a goal aligns to your deeply held values and beliefs.
A goal you said you will be pursuing for the next six months is to do my best in all my classes and identify my top level goal .
Here is how self-concordant that goal was:
Don’t worry if your self-concordance for that particular goal is low.
It might mean that you need to reframe that goal in a way that makes it more relevant to your deep self, or change it!
Remember that self-concordance is goal specific, so other goals might be more self-concordant.
We then transitioned to the second part of Grit Lab:
Work Smart
In week 6, we looked at goal setting and planning.
You WOOPed!
For your Wish, what you wanted to accomplish, you said Sleep .
For your Outcome, what would happen if your wish came true, you said I will not be tired tomorrow! .
For you Obstacle, what it is within you that stands in your way, you said Watching tv .
For your Plan, you created this when-then plan to achieve your goal: When I finish all my work I will get ready for bed .
Whether you changed your WOOP or stuck to that one, here’s where it landed between being a total fail, and going exactly according to plan.
And here’s how much you learned
These goals are hard, and despite our best efforts, our plans can fail.
The important thing is that you learn something along the way!
In week 7, we talked about deliberate practice.
You shared you’ve done daily practice in Music .
We learned that deliberate practice requires a challenging, hyperspecific goal, maximum concentration, instant feedback, and is often done alone.
In week 8, we discussed feedback.
Even though feedback can be hard to take, it is often the key to improve. So if you want to improve, seek it actively!
You said you felt Ashamed when receiving critical feedback, and Ashamed when receiving positive feedback.
We then turned to learning about stress.
In week 9, you reported feeling a little of stress in your life right now, the primary source of it being school and relationships .
We also talked about adversity and failure.
Although related, adversity and failure are different:
Adversity happens to us, whereas failure is something for which we are generally more responsible.
However, how we interpret stress and failure matters…
Interestingly, research has found that people who believe that stress can facilitate learning and growth experience enhanced performance, well-being, and health.
And failure—not achieving a particular goal—can be interpreted as “I’m learning!” and lead you to look for the lesson in that experience.
We closed the Work Smart section of the class by talking about habits.
Throughout the semester, you practice habit building using your Build-A-Habit Guide book.
You describe the habit you chose as Health .
Whether you were successful in habit building or not, this is how much you learned.
Finally, what good is grit if we do not dream for others?
So, we transitioned to Paying it Forward.
In week 10, we looked at mentors: role models that take an active role in your growth.
Hopefully, your mentor was authoritative, being both supportive and demanding.
Here’s how you described them:
You also wrote a gratitude letter to Parent .
In one word, you said it made you feel Loved .
One way of paying it forward is having a prosocial, beyond-the-self purpose. Here’s how you responded to items assessing that.
… and so quickly we arrived at the end of the semester.
Here’s how your mood varied over these weeks.
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Do you notice any patterns? Is there anything that correlates with your mood?
Here you can scroll through all the quotes you wrote to summarize each class.
| |
| That talent is multiplied by effort which makes skill |
| That applying what you learn in your classes to your own life will help you retain information more |
| How to write a successful email |
| Harmony is aerodynamic |
| To get people engaged there has to be a higher order goal |
| How to receive feedback |
| Getting up after you fail is the most important step |
| Edit box one |
| Mentors can be authoratative but also supportive |
| What lies beyond your top level goal |
In the final class, we looked back to everything we’ve learned together and to how our passion and perseverance evolved during this class.
Here are the comments from your Grit Lab Teammates:
| |
| Emily Marks |
| I was always very impressed by how reflective and thoughtful Alex was during our team discussions. Throughout the semester, Alex always came to class having put her whole heart and a full effort into the assigned activity. When it came time for team discussions, she always had unique insight that pushed me to reflect and learn more about myself. Additionally, Alex was always an excellent team leader. She never failed to continue the conversation and keep our group on the right track.
For her discovery project, Alex chose to pursue DJing. I really enjoyed her presentation and appreciated how she took the time to teach the class about the basics of her topic. She did an excellent job of explaining her project to her peers, and in turn, keeping everyone engaged. It is clear to me that Alex is generally passionate about her project and I am excited that she wants to continue pursuing it! |
| Sophia Nehme |
| Alex is incredibly kind and curious. In our team discussions, she would consistently probe me with insightful questions, which helped me refine my ideas as I was developing them. Alex pushed beyond the given prompts in our conversations, and would ask intentional and deliberate follow-up questions for the purpose of furthering our train of thought, even when it wasn’t required of her. Overall, these traits fostered an atmosphere where everyone was consistently heard and valued. I also felt her calm energy really anchored our group. Particularly, when keeping a watchful eye on the timer during our group conversations, and always ensuring we made the most of our time together. Lastly, her innovative approach to discussions, whether suggesting we talk as we walk, or new locations to go to, always made me look forward to Grit Lab!
I thoroughly enjoyed Alex's discovery project presentation about her deep dive into DJing. Learning about the inspiration behind her project was fascinating, particularly her background in classical singing and her father's experience, which sparked her pursuit of exploring music in innovative ways. Her reliance on the teachings of friends, especially her discovery project BFF Martina and other DJs like Harper, highlighted the depth of her research and dedication to learning from those around her. As someone unfamiliar with DJing, I also was interested by the practical skills she learned, including how to leverage low points and similar keys when transitioning between songs. Her presentation provided valuable insights into the nuances of music curation, leaving me with a deeper appreciation for the artistry involved! I look forward to hearing her DJ sometime in the future! |
| Lily Martin |
| One thing that I really appreciated about Alex was her relaxed, go-with the flow demeanor. She had a very calming presence that made me feel more relaxed, even when I was stressed out with assignments and quizzes. Not only did Alex’s general presence make people feel more relaxed, but she even passed around “Thinking Putty” (which is supposed to be good for stress relief) to other members of the class. This is a great example of Alex’s kindness and generosity. It was clear that she was always thinking about other people and how she could improve their lives. Alex is also a very genuine person. Her vulnerability and humility made everyone else in our group feel more comfortable sharing their personal stories. I feel very lucky to have had Alex in my Grit Lab group!
Alex’s Discovery Project was on DJing. I learned a lot from her presentation about the use of “sampling” when creating music sets. For example, she said that–while it can be great to incorporate other songs–it is important to not change the original music too much. This was a really great point that I hadn’t considered before. One of my favorite parts about Alex’s presentation was when she described how she had to explore different genres of music. Alex said that, as a DJ, you want to be considerate of everyone’s different music tastes. So, to be able to DJ for a wider audience, you need to be able to mix different genres of music. I also thought that the visuals in Alex’s presentation were very effective. Overall, she did a great job, and I was really impressed by her presentation! |
We hope you have emerged from Grit Lab a little grittier than you started.
Do you want to see how your grit rubric changed?
Drumroll please…
Don’t worry if the rubric doesn’t yet reflect growth. It is only a coarse measure that cannot replace your own self-reflection.
In any case, grit is not built in a day…
…remember that progress is never smooth…
…so stay passionate and persevering in the lifelong quest of choosing easy, working smart, and paying it forward.
With grit and gratitude,
Angela and the Grit Lab team.